Here Comes Santa Claus!

Merry Christmas! 

All things Christmas (part 1)

Christmas caroling at the Gateway apartments with Memorial Road church of Christ:

 Dylan looking cool with his buddy:

Dustin--always getting a laugh!

Jodee and me trying to stay warm!

Josh and me...

Santa pictures at the mall (I will upload the actual pic later!)

Finally, decorating the tree....each kiddo has their own new ornament that they pick out.  They love it! We always decorate the weekend of Thanksgiving..my blog is just a little behind.

 Dustin's honors choir caroling in downtown Edmond:

We love this time of year!  It's busy, but oh so much fun!

Zoo meet

The first gymnastics meet of the year is called the Zoo Meet..always has been.  It's a crazy mess of people!  But oh, so much fun! Jodee had a great meet--already qualified to sectionals!  Way to go, Jo!  I am not quite talented enough to put a video on my blog, so if you want to see the meet, look at my facebook page!

These are some of my favorite unedited pics from that day:

Beautiful gymnast

 Look at those straight legs and pointed toes!!

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L

Woohoo!!! On the awards stand!

A judge and a gymnast....

And a random funny picture of Dylan sound asleep:

More Halloween fun!

Okay, here is my sad attempt to look like Hannah Montana....and I have my 'dad' here, Billy Ray.  Yes...you might have heard that we performed that evening, the Hoedown Throwdown.  Yes, my 'dad' upstaged me and really went all out while I laughed.  I'm definitely no Hannah Montana!  But, it was fun...and the dance is stuck in my head now.

 Fun at my mom's:

 Did you know you can carve mini pumpkins?  We had no idea till Jodee brought some home from school...and we just went for it.  It turned out pretty cute!

Halloween and Vocabulary Parade

Taylor Swift, anyone?

Taylor Swift, Jason, and Darth Vader

 Darth:

We got to meet "Otto" from Science Museum Oklahoma at Haunt the Zoo.....so much fun!

 The kids (well, 2 of my kids) participated in the vocabulary parade at school...very neat idea. Find a word you didn't know already, and dress up like that word!  We have wingding and confection:

More updates to follow!

Thankful

I know I have skipped a lot lately....but I promise to catch up!  Everything will be a little out of order, but oh well!

I just have to say how tremendously thankful I am for my family, my friends, and my God.  This week has really opened my eyes...and the need to appreciate everyone and everything God has put into our lives.  We are all so blessed with the hope of eternity with Him.

Phillipians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Jal, NM

There's nothing like visiting great grandparents...we love it!  It's so nice that all of Josh's grandparents live in the same little town in New Mexico.  We always have a wonderful time there...enjoying the slow pace of life. Edmond doesn't seem to offer us a slow pace very often!

Love this pic taken right outside of Jal:

I'm sure I'll play around with it a little to add to it..but it's just adorable!

 Here is the infamous 'Jal Sculpture'...remember it....

Pop Pop and KK with the kiddos:

Nana and Dandy Don with the kiddos:

Feeding the ducks at Jal lake:

Remember the sculpture?  Here is one part of it with the kids:

And, although I'm sad that the kids are growing up WAY too fast, it makes me happy that they like each other enough to spend 9 hours in the car together without fighting.  They were GREAT!

Love you Pop pop and KK, and Nana and Dandy!  We had such a fun time visiting!

Winner!

Estimation station has a winner:  Dustin Fowler!!

He won a 29 pound pumpkin, with a 40" circumference...HUGE PUMPKIN!!!  

Rock n Roll Forever

The Orvis Risner Elementary 5th graders had their program a couple of weeks ago....Rock and Roll!!!  It was so cute....their music teacher is wonderful! She did a great job!

Dustin doin' his thing:

His speaking part:  "Thank you. Thank you very much," in the deepest voice I've ever heard him use!  So cute...my little Elvis.

He's also in the Honors Choir....he got a solo! He sings the boy part of "Don't Stop Believing".  SO COOL!! I will try to get a video uploaded soon.

Our baby girl is 8!

Where have the past 8 years gone?  So many things happened eight years ago. We moved into our house 8 years ago.  Spent a few nights in the hospital sick, thinking she was going to come 2 months early.  Made it to the due date!  We doubled the amount of children we had 8 years ago.  We added a sweet, loving, funny, talented little girl to our family!!!  Jodee is amazing!  She is a great singer, loves to play her guitar, piano, and any other instrument she can find.  She is a talented gymnast, competing at level 4.  She is loving and sweet and motherly to her 2 brothers.  I'm sure they don't always appreciate it, but she is watching out for them!  She has some incredible questions about God and Jesus and the bible.  Love this girl!

So excited!

Had 'show and tell' with grandma's snake at her party!

What a fun time.  She had 2 great parties thanks to our family and friends!  Happy Birthday Jodee!

Jodee

First of all, today my baby girl is 8.  What a cool day to have a birthday: 10-10-10!  Too bad she's not turning 10!  I will save her birthday post for later...after I have some fun pictures!

What this post was really going to be about, is the fact that my daughter is going to be completely toothless soon.  She lost ANOTHER one!  And, only has one adult tooth in place of the 6 baby teeth that she's lost.  

Check it out:

Oh, to be 8 again!

Sea lions....SO cute!

We splurged a little at the fair this year, and got the kids' picture with the sea lions.  Aren't they cute?